This will be the last post...

...on this blog.

Alas, I have been mulling over this decision for quite a while now, and it is done.  I have decided to close this blog in order to start fresh with a blog that is not simply about weaving, but about life in general.  One of the main reasons I've created a new blog is that I started this blog to document my weaving.  And now that life has twisted around and weaving is not as big a part of it as I would hope, I just have other things I would like to blog about.  And then, I'm an over achiever and it really bothers me to have a weaving blog that rarely talks about weaving.  So, this is the last post on this blog.

But, I can't leave you without a teaser...  I do have a project on my loom right now, and I will be blogging about it on my new blog soon.  So, I'd love it if you wanted to drop by and check out the new site: Courting Contentment.  Hope to see you there!

Life Goes On

I haven't blogged since September.  I just want to get that out in the open so that I can't fool myself into thinking it hasn't really been that long.  It's been FOREVER!  I know.  I think about blogging a lot.  But, it just never seems to happen that I just sit down and type out the posts I plan in my head over and over.  So, somehow, half a year later, one day I decide to sit down and actually type.  It took me a while to get here though.  I've been sitting at the computer for over half an hour, just killing time.  Watching a couple of movie trailers, catching up on the latest randomness on Facebook, trying not to think about work.

I'm feeling a little melancholy today.  This is the first time I've been home alone in what feels like forever.  And there's just something about it.  For a while, you love it, and then without you really noticing the loneliness creeps into you.  And it's been oh so long since I've been lonely.  It's really quite hard to deal with when you've forgotten how wonderful it can be.  So, here I am, lonely and melancholy, and the rain is kind of spitting down outside.  But at least it's over 70 degrees here in Florida; I'm pretty sure I'd be in even more of a rut if I was somewhere colder.

The fall is a very busy time for me.  I teach high school, and in addition to that, in the fall, I am the assistant marching band director and color guard coach.  So, between mid-July and the beginning of December, work took up a major amount of time in my life.  And then the holidays, etc.  So, since September I have made (wait for it) TWO scarves.  I know, it's a pity.  I didn't even weave at all during my three week Christmas break.  In my defense, however, we were out of town for more than half of it.  But still.  I miss my loom, and I would really like to start a project any day now. 

But first, I need you to mourn with me.  I found out a few weeks ago that my favorite yarn company is closing their business at the end of this month.  Since I started weaving, my absolute favorite yarns have come from Conjoined Creations.  They make absolutely stunning hand-dyed yarns that are a dream to work with.  Though I understand completely that life takes different turns and things often change, I am very sad that they are closing.  If you are reading this and you do some type of fiber arts craft, I would encourage you to check out the final sales they have going on.  So, since they are closing, I have had to take a deep breath and make the last order I will ever make from them.  Here's what I've got.

 Above is the yarn I got for Christmas (before I heard the devastating news).

 This was my last order from them.  I am grateful that their final sale started before I made my last order because that allowed me to purchase much more than I can usually afford.  Also, thank you to everyone who gave me money for Christmas... this is where a lot of it went.

And so, this is my entire stash of Conjoined Creations.  I had just a few half-skeins left from previous projects.  Thankfully, this stash will last me quite a while, but when I run out, oh sad day, I will probably cry.

Well, though I still need to update you with some pictures of the whole 2 scarves I've made, I'm going to enjoy my loneliness and try not to bake something else in the meantime.  (I've been doing a lot of baking.  And by "a lot" I mean "AAAAA LLLOOOOOOTTTTTTT!"

Happy Saturday!

World RECORD... Well, Maybe Not

So, GUESS what I did yesterday?!?!?!  I made FOUR brand new (to me) Pinterest recipes!!!  That's gotta be some type of record, right?!  But seriously, it was pretty awesome!  So I had to tell you all because I was so excited!

So here's the story.  We had a church picnic to go to tonight, and of course, it was pot luck.  And it just so happened that they split up what people were supposed to bring by last names.  So by the last name rule, I was supposed to bring a side dish (not a dessert).  If you know me at all, then you would very well know that if you ask me to bring a dessert, I will be on Pinterest and in the kitchen for hours just narrowing down the list of recipes to make.  However, when you put me on side dish duty... I get on Pinterest for about 4 hours and still can't find anything I want to make and bring.  Boo.  So, in looking at pin after pin of delicious food on Pinterest Friday night and Saturday morning, I just could not help myself.  So...

For lunch, we had Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps!  Yum yum!  So, click on the picture for the original recipe.  Of course, we changed some things around because we're kind of picky eaters.  So we took out the peppers, changed up some of the spices and added salsa.  They were pretty darn delicious!  (Note: the picture is from Pinterest.)

 Next up, those wonderful sounding Bread Machine English Muffins I mentioned yesterday.  #1: One of the easiest pieces of baking I have ever done.  Seriously, throw it all in the bread maker, let it sit, smoosh it out, fry it up.  Done.  I am sold.  #2: They are bigger than regular English muffins (the batch made 10 large ones) and just as delicious!  LOVE them!  #3: And since they're so easy, I can make them whenever I want.  They don't even use a ton of ingredients.  Seriously, SOOOOOO easy!!!!  Once again, click on the pic for the recipe; pic is from Pinterest.

Then, on to the baked ziti that is sitting in the freezer right now.  With such crazy weeks, I've been in the habit of making one big meal on Saturday that we can fix during the week and have a lot of left overs for lunches.  So, this week, the baked ziti got picked.  I can't yet tell you how it turned out because we haven't eaten it.  But, I'll let you know.  Same deal as before, click pic for recipe, pic is from Pinterest.

Lastly, for dessert, I served up some Apple Fritters!  They were pretty good, however, this is actually the first time that I have deep fried something, so they weren't perfect.  The only thing that ruined them for me was how the house reeked of oil after I was finished making them.  I don't know if that was a chef error or just something that happened.  But they were really good.  Thomas came up wth the great idea too, to just bake them as muffins.  That would be easy, and I am like obsessed with muffins, so AWESOME!!!!  Can you guess what I'm going to say next?!  Click the pic for the yummy recipe, this photo is also from Pinterest.

So, I had a fabulous Pinterest Party for one yesterday!  And, I get to enjoy the spoils all week!  Ha ha ha!!!  (Triumphant laugh)  Now time for some Doctor Who!!!!!!!  Allons-y!!!

Falling Behind

So, it's summer and I'm still falling behind.  There's something about having nothing that *needs* to get done that really makes you get very little done.  I've been weaving, hanging out with the hubby, watching movies, shopping, working on color guard... And yet, I've been meaning to blog for three days, and I'm just now doing it.  Oh well, I guess, more pics for you today!

First off: here's the green/purple/copper scarf.  (I still haven't taken real pics of it yet, so this is all I've got.)  I like it though.  It's softer than my kitty's fur (which is suuuuper soft.  Lol.)

And here's the sneak peek of the latest project.  (By now, its already finished, just needs to be washed and such.)  It's very similar to the one I made my mom for Christmas, but it's pretty skinny and has a lot more leno lace in it.

And here's my delicious granola!!!  It turned out really great, and I can't stop eating it, so this will probably be a regular recipe at my house.  I just love granola cereal, and it makes me feel pretty good about myself because its pretty good for you.  (Maybe not this version though; there's a LOT of sugar in it!)  I found the recipe on pinterest, and it comes from another blog, delia creates.  You can see the original recipe here!  I followed the recipe but only made a half batch this time.  (I hate to waste my ingredients in case I don't like something the first time I make it.)  Though I love the sweet taste, next time I might try it with a little less sugar so its a little healthier.  But it is DELICIOUS!!!!

Also, we went to the beach the other day and found these while we were walking!!!  Yay!  Conch shells are so rare to find around here, I was totally excited.  These are really cool because they look so old, thick, and worn down!  Yay!

Besides all that loveliness, I had to make a presentation for a training seminar I have to go to all next week for teacher stuff.  Whoever decided that teacher training should be smack in the middle of June was dumb.  It's very un-fun.

Also, I have one of the three songs choreographed for the marching band show!  Uniforms are officially ordered!  And flags are all decided!  Yippee!!!  I'm on a roll!

So even though I have been pretty productive this week, there's still no excuse for my poor blogging habits.  :(  I'm hoping to get a new project warped today, so wish me luck.  I have something totally different planned for this one!

Ending Note: Here's my life motto right now: "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men..." Ephesians 6:7  (Boy is that hard!)

Lazy Sunday

So... this post is a few days over due, and now I have another waiting in line!  But, I'm going to do this in order.

I just love lazy Sunday afternoons and evenings in the summer.  Even with evening church, its lovely to come home, have a snack, and just hang around for the rest of the night.  Here's what Thomas and I did with our lazy Sunday night:

 Slushies and Yahtzee!

We've been playing a LOT of Yahtzee lately, just one of those crazy summer habits!  So usually, slushies in my family mean fresh strawberries and such.  But, being on a budget and sometimes lay shoppers, we did not have any strawberries in the house.  What did we have though?  Strawberry Kool-aid!  Lol.  The reason I'm telling you this whole story is because the strawberry Kool-aid slushies were actually really delicious!  AND, how much cheaper can you really get than one package of Kool-aid, a can of frozen lemonade, ice and sugar?!  Basically, I just had some Kool-aid ice cubes in the freezer, threw those, some regular ice, and a couple spoonfuls of frozen lemonade in the blender, et voila!  However, it was really tart, so I ended up adding a little extra sugar.  They were super cheap, easy, and delicious.  I'm thinking we should have them again, but with another flavor of Kool-aid.

Anyway, that was my wonderful Sunday night!  Tonight I've got a batch of home-made granola in the oven.  Yummy!  And I'm weaving on the latest scarf... but that's an update for tomorrow!!!

Nom Noms

Soooo....  I have been in a horrible quandary the past couple of days.  It's been terrible.  I just don't know what to do.  You see, I have this constant decision to make, and its just so difficult to make the right choice.  You know, the kind of decision where you pro and con it, and then you STILL can't decide.  So, I guess I will share my options on here, and maybe you can help me solve this awful dilemma.  Should I...

Bake or Weave?

He he!  What a terrible life I have right now, right?!  That is my constant, ten times a day decision. So, I can tell you for sure that both win out!  In fact, I think the contest is probably pretty even right now.  Here are some of the finer factors:

Pros for Weaving / Cons for Baking -

• I have an abundance of yarn, so I can weave about 84 projects before I have to spend any money!
• I can always choose when to take a break.
• Its extremely FUN!
• I have a ton of projects on the brain.
• Baking is making my beach body not so beach-y.
• Baking usually takes a large chunk of time all at once.
• I hate cleaning the kitchen every five minutes.
• I need more ingredients for all the different pinterest recipes I want to try.

Pros for Baking / Cons for Weaving - 

• Baking makes DELICIOUS goodies!
• There are sooooo many recipes I want to try.
• I'm gonna want dessert anyway, and its cheaper to make it than to go buy it somewhere.
• Thomas benefits from my yummy treats.
• For weaving, well, I can't really think of any cons.  :)

Anyway... its probably going to be a few days before you see a finished picture of the green/purple/copper scarf because it needs to be finished with the sewing machine.  And, I'm a little mad at my sewing machine right now, so its been banished to the closet!  However, I do have a new project warped on the loom.  (After a warping process that should have taken half an hour but instead took ONE and a half because I messed it all up.)   So, you'll see sneak peek pics of that soon.

And, on to the baking!  As I mentioned the other day, I made a whipped chocolate fondue dip and cinnamon chips for our bible study dessert party on Monday.  And it was delicious if I do say so myself!  The fondue was one of the easiest recipes I've ever made.  And the cinnamon chips, though more time consuming, were totally worth it!  Here's a pic of the finished dish.  Yum!

 And this morning, I whipped up a batch of cinnamon sugar bagels!  I haven't made these since we moved to Florida, and I've been missing them!  As you can tell from the picture, I still haven't mastered the shaping yet.  They always puff up into big balls rather than ending up looking like bagels!  Yummy!  I can't wait til breakfast.

So, now on to start that new weaving project!!!

Pretty In... Purple!

Here's a pic of the first scarf that I finished the other day.  I got the ends all twisted nicely for the finishing touch.  I decided not to iron it out or anything.  I really like the messy look with this one!

 

And... I had a fabulous hair night when I wore this scarf for the first time, so I thought I'd share that too!

 

(It's really hard to take pictures of the back of your head in the mirror, so they're not the greatest.)  But the pretty purple flower clip was made for me by my good friend Cassie!  Thanks girl.  I miss you!

I spent the morning making cool fondue and cinnamon chips for bible study tonight.  (I'll have to take a picture of that when I get the platter all made up.  It looks delish!)  And then we spent the afternoon at the beach.  So, all in all, I'd say its a pretty good day so far!  I hope you are having an equally lovely day!!!

Done and Done

Well, as you can tell, I didn't get around to the photos that I promised yesterday.  I was a little busy... doing nothing in particular!  Let's see, I made stuffed shells for dinner (YUM YUM), I made willy worm (a dessert that my mom's family made when she was a kid that involves home-made pie crust, cinnamon, sugar, and butter - its delish), I watched "A League of Their Own" and cried of course, I went to Jo-Ann's because I was out of the green bamboo/silk that I needed for the latest project.  Yeah, that was about my day.  I LOVE summer!

So, here is the "sneak peek" of my latest project.

And as you know, I'm not so great at taking photos on the loom, so this was the best I could do.  The two yarns are great: a blend with a fabulous colorway from Conjoined Creations and the green bamboo/silk.  So, I combined the two for a subtle Houndstooth pattern.  It's pretty wide, and I'm planning it for a shorter neck cowl.  We'll see what it looks like after its dried.

And here, the previous project and this one are hanging in the bathroom drying after their first bath!

So, I'm excited about both!

Also, Thomas and I just saw "Snow White and the Huntsman" today.  It was really good considering that the main actor is not great at her job.  It was a really cool take on Snow White where she gets to be a hard core princess who takes on the evil queen in her own right.  I like the stories where the princess gets to have a hand in saving herself, but of course, every princess needs her prince; she doesn't have to be so helpless that he gets to have all the fun defeating the baddies!  (There's a British word for you!)

Beach Bum and Back Ache

So... I'm officially a day into summer (because I had to go in for a little bit yesterday morning) and I already have a back ache from weaving too much!  I spent all of yesterday evening weaving and did a good bit this morning and afternoon to finish up the project I started on spring break!  And before I could even finish it, I already warped the loom for a new one!  Pics tomorrow hopefully!

Also, we went to the beach today and LITERALLY had it all to ourselves.  I'm not kidding, for a while, I'm pretty sure we had about a 1/2 mile in each direction where there were no people whatsoever.  And, of course, I forgot my camera.  It was also so calm that sometimes there weren't even any waves.  I have never seen the ocean looking like a lake before.  But it was such a peaceful afternoon!  I LOVE living in Florida!!!  Yay!

Random Quote: "Dark have been my dreams of late."  ~Said by Theoden King of Rohan in "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"  (One of the reasons I got so much weaving done in the past day: we've started another of our trilogy binges.  And we're watching all of the Lord of the Rings movies right now!)

HAPPY  SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Random Pictures, Random Quote

So... I think I may be coming up on some time to blog again...  Although, I haven't had time to do anything worth blogging about for the past two months, so the blog posts would have been pretty miserable anyway.  So, here are some pictures that don't really have much to do with anything, but I want to post them.

School....

 This is the new patio set my parents bought for us while they were here on spring break.  I LOVE IT!!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

School...

 And cat pictures!!!

 Lolo's new bed... A ramen box.  Lol!

School...

And sleeping on the beach towels.

School...

And sleeping on daddy's clean shirts!

School....

 And here's the beach today!  Today was the first day this year that I've gotten totally in the water!  Yay!!!

Can you tell what's been eating up all my time?  Yep, you guessed it... SCHOOL!!!  But, all the finals are written and I just have to get all the kids to take them this week, and then I'm DONE!!!!!!!!!! YYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

(Can you tell I'm excited?!)  So, I will have to update you on movies later, we're getting ready to go see "The Five Year Engagement" tonight.  And I just love Emily Blunt!

Random Quote:  "The angels have the phone box."  ~Doctor Who  (LOVE IT)

Logging In

I always feel really bad when I haven't been on the blog in so long that google logs me out...  Then I have to log back in again to get an update on blogs that I read.  Sometimes it makes me feel so guilty that I just don't bother to log in again.  :(

Anyway, I'm exhausted.  And if I actually started to update you on all the things that have been going on, it would take pages.  And hours considering the fact that I basically cannot even type a word without having to backspace and correct a typing error at the moment.  Apparently my brain and fingers are not connected right now.  But, I can't get on here to talk about how bad I'm feeling about not blogging and then leave you with nothing.  So...

Here is the latest project.  This picture did not turn out so great because some of the fibers are so shiny.  But, I've already begun to weave on it and I'm really interested to see how its going to shape up.

ONLY 1 WEEK UNTIL SPRING BREAK!!!!!  Maybe I'll be able to blog a couple times then, but my parents are also going to be in town, so maybe not!

Yesterday=Swimsuit, Today=Sweater

Well, today is quite different than yesterday.  60 degrees, drizzly, and windy is a stark contrast from yesterday's 90, sunny, and HOT!  But, its alright.  I've gotten some baking done and a little more spinning.  Last night, I just sat in front of the tv and watched "Contact" (Love that movie, btw).  I haven't sat and watched a movie by myself without working in FOREVER, but my wonderful hubby made me!  ;)

So, even though the loom isn't warped, here's a pic of the materials for the next project...  Yummy!

Weekend's almost over. :(  Only 5 more days until the next one.  :)

First Day at the Beach=First Sunburn of the Season

Well, I am having a wonderful weekend so far.  How bout you?  Today is a great day to live in Florida: It's 90 degrees and beautifully sunny with just enough wind to make sitting outside a good time.  So, Thomas and I spent our morning at the beach (we didn't really get in the water because it was freezing), and what would a trip to the beach be without a little sunburn?  Well, for me, it would be a miracle.  So here I am, March 3rd, and I have semi-painful sunburn from an hour and a half at the beach.  Yeah.  But, sunburn and all, it was a wonderful time, and I am so blessed to live in Florida with a husband who will do just about anything to make me happy!  Then, we went to our favorite hot dog stand for lunch.  Yummy!  (Oh yeah, and I forgot to take my camera to the beach, so I have no photos of our first real day at the beach this year... fail.)

AND... tomorrow, we are semi-officially joining the church we've been going to since we moved here, so I get to stand up in front of the whole church to be introduced with a bright red sunburn... awesome.

And... last night, I spent the evening spinning the scrumptious fiber that my hubby got me for Christmas.  So, my spindle went from looking like this...

 To this...

Yes, I realize that it does not look like much difference, but there is surprisingly a lot of yarn on there.  I just wish I could tell how much.  I keep spinning and spinning and spinning and I feel like there's never anymore yarn on the spindle.  However, that is good, because it means that apparently the spindle holds a ton of yarn.  So, there are pros and cons.

Also, I'm hoping to start a new weaving project tonight or tomorrow (for real this time), so hopefully you'll see a pic or two of that in the next five years!  ;)

Happy Cat Saturday!!!

So Little Time

Well, my life has been running at about 64 million miles an hour lately.  So I've got some updates!  I'm going to try to spread them out over a couple of shorter blog posts, however, that plan may just turn into me forgetting about them again.  So, stick around and find out!

First of all, I finished the scarf that was on my loom about three weeks ago and have worn it twice since, however, I still haven't taken pictures of it.  Hopefully I can get those today or tomorrow.

Also, my wonderful husband treated me to a wonderful Valentine's Day!  Here's the proof.

 Who wants real flowers when you can have an edible bouquet of strawberries and chocolate?!  Not this girl.  He knows me so well!

And we had a wonderful dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in the world, Sunset Cafe, Where we enjoyed this beautiful view of the Banana River.  And I had the juiciest crab legs I've ever eaten.  Seriously, I had to wash my hands three times during the meal!  They were AWESOME!  And the live musician ended up playing our song while we were there.  He botched it, but it was still our song, lol!  And then we finished the night by going to see "Safe House", and it was really good.  Thanks love for a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Hopefully I will also have an update for you about my next project... if I can figure out what its going to be before the weekend is over!

Lastly, clouds... really?!  It was hot and gorgeous this week, and now that it's Saturday and Thomas and I have outdoor plans, its cloudy, windy, and threatening to rain... BOO!  On that note, have a great Saturday!

Milk and Cookies

I'm on a milk and cookies break from weaving.  What kind of cookies you ask?  Peanut butter... YUM!!!!  Oh, and are you surprised that I'm weaving?!  Well, this week was pretty darn awful, so tonight is the night to relax and embrace the fact that its the weekend!  So, I warped the sampler I've had planned (which took FOR-EV-ER!!!), and now I'm working on weaving it.  Here's a pic of the warp.  I decided to use electric colors so that I could really see the patterns.  And, though I chose to use cheapy acrylic yarn so that I wouldn't waste anything expensive on a sampler, I can't help but hate myself a little because its so stinkin' difficult to work with.

So, I don't want to depress you with my bad week, so here's a highlight.  ***SPOILER ALERT:  If you don't live in Florida, you may not want to read any further!!!

This morning I walked outside into the perfect spring morning.  The air was just that temperature where you walk out and rejoice that you don't have to wear a jacket, and there was a wonderfully cool breeze blowing off the water.  It was the absolutely perfect (except the fact that I was on my way to work)!  Love.

Oh!  And I ordered some new stuff today!  I'm really, really hoping it will get here next week so I can play with it.  But, you'll just have to wait until I get it to find out what my awesome new toys are!!!  He he he!

Happy weekend!!!

Inspiration... A Curse Sometimes

 Here is one of the highlights of my weekends.  Along with spending unlimited quantities of time with my husband, baking breakfast before church every Sunday, and sleeping in, I absolutely love the quiet afternoons when the sun shines in the windows illuminating the room with the pure light that can only come from one source.  However... the light in my brain is not so peaceful.  :)

Right now, I feel like my inspiration is a curse.  I have so many projects on my mind, and so little time on my hands.  Now that Christmas break is over, its back to my normal, crazy schedule.  But, I still haven't gotten to enjoy most of my Christmas gifts.  So, what's a girl to do?  I know that the situation is usually reversed with too much time, and not enough inspiration and materials, but the opposite is almost just as bad.  I have all these great ideas bouncing around and a plethora of materials to use, but no time!  So, as I am greatly enjoying this three day weekend, I'm trying to get my thoughts in order.  Maybe I will share some of my ideas with you in the near future, but today, I have pictures of some of the aforementioned Christmas gifts!!!

 

Behold, my brand new Turkish Drop Spindle!!!  I didn't buy a Turkish spindle for my first one mostly because I really had no idea what they actually were.  But now that I know what they are and have played around with mine, I am super excited!  The two things that I haven't really liked about the spinning process is that my spindle doesn't hold very much yarn and that I have to unwind it into a skein or something when I'm done.  And this spindle will solve both of those problems!!!  I've experimented with it a little by spinning two yarns together (I wanted to get the hang of it a little before I tried some roving.), but now I'm really excited to start spinning one of my other Christmas gifts!

 Voila, next gift!!!  This is some gorgeous electric blue roving that my husband picked out ALL BY HIMSELF for me!  Isn't he amazing?!  It's super soft, and I can't wait to see what it looks like as yarn!

And lastly for today, this is some beautiful roving that my parents-in-law got me!  So, I have some great projects to start spinning... so little time!  :(

Happy long weekend!

A Year in the Life of Lolo

So, as I am missing my sweet little kitty, I have decided to show you a year in her life!  She has traveled from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis several times.  She has lived through an 18 hour drive to Palm Bay, Florida and the whole moving process.  She has enjoyed exploring her new home.  And, above all, she has loved being cute!!!  Enjoy!

Lolo playing hide and seek in the sink and watching "It's Me or the Dog"...

...playing on the couch...

...lounging in her basket...

...always looking out the windows...

...digging in momma's purse...

...sleeping on her favorite bag...

...once again, on her favorite bag...

...soooooo tired...

...watching the birds...

...can't you tell that this is totally her favorite bag?!...

...moving time...

...sooooo tired...

...digging in the couch...

...sleeping on top of the couch...

...napping in the Yahtzee box...

Lolo has had a busy year!  Being a cute kitty is tough work!  I can't wait to see my little girl again!!!